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There is no hiding secrets from Garnet.
Especially after spending around two hours sitting on the couch, mumbling things under the breath, because apparently human technology refuses to work for her.
«Oh, come on, what else do you want from me?»
«Whose phone is that?»
Pearl jumps and the device she is holding almost slips from her hands. She catches it and fights with it in the air for a while until she gets a solid grip on it.
«Oh, it’s – it’s mine!» she answers, her voice only slightly high-pitched. She leans against the couch’s back with a sigh. «I bought it this morning».
As the empty box and papers dispersed on the ground clearly confirm.
(She is going to clean that up later, of course. Stars, it’s a mess, but right now she would only do worse if she doesn’t make this stubborn phone work once and for all).
Garnet stares at her, arms crossed, and Pearl can’t help but wonder if she is Seeing. And what is she Seeing, if that is the case.
«What do you need a phone for?» Garnet asks. She raises one hand and fixes her glasses, and Pearl actually gulps.
«Uh, well – you know» she coughs and scratches the back of her neck while she plays with the phone on her other hand. It almost slips again, and she squeals and grabs it before it falls. «What if Steven needs help and needs to call someone as an emergency? I want to be always available for him!»
Garnet keeps staring, and through the glasses Pearl can’t tell if she’s convinced or not. She is not technically lying – she wants to be there for Steven, always – but she’s also not saying the whole truth, or the actual reason behind the purchase of a cellular device.
«You’ve always said that Earth technology was primitive» Garnet observes.
«Well yes, compared to ours» Pearl replies, and steals a glance at the phone in her hands. Primitive, indeed, but also awfully complicated. «But I mean – while I admit that humans have done amazing progresses – I suppose it’s time I adequate if I want to – uh».
Before Garnet has the time to say anything – and she is clearly about to – the front door slams open and Steven and Amethyst come running in. Amethyst points at her, laughs, and grabs Steven’s shoulder with her other hand.
«Ah! I told you!» she yells. «I knew it was Pearl I saw walking out of the store! She actually bought a cellphone!»
«She did!» Steven admits, just as enthusiastic, and Pearl feels her cheeks heat up. «Pearl, you could have just borrowed mine! This is amazing!»
«What is amazing?» Garnet asks, and even if they don’t show, her three eyes are probably wandering from Steven to Amethyst to Pearl and back.
Pearl opens her mouth to reply, but Amethyst is faster. The meaning of the sentence is the same, but Pearl would have used less direct words.
«P’s got a giiiiiirl» the purple gem says, a tone that could come off as mocking at first but that is clearly admired and proud. Maybe only slightly and affectionately mocking. «She got her phone number the other day at the rock concert!»
Garnet’s face lights up as, clearly, all the pieces fit together, just like the puzzle Pearl still has to finish. She sighs, staring at the device in her hands.
«It would be great if I could just get this phone to work!»
Steven walks over to offer help, and Pearl gladly hands him the phone. He twirls it and checks it a couple of times, then smiles, grabs one of the dozens of wires on the floor and connects it first at the phone, then at the wall. The device turns on all of sudden with an image of a battery charging, and Pearl stares in shock.
Alright, at her defense, none of gems’ devices ever needs to be charged.
Steven giggles, but Pearl only steals a glance at him before Garnet turns her around and she finds herself dangerously close to the taller gem and her curious and excited smile.
«Tell» she breaths. «All of it. Now».
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
She does, and by the time Garnet has been updated with all the juicy details, the phone is half charged. Pearl removes it from the plug and, with trembling hands and three gems pressing at her shoulders to see, she dials the number the girl has given her. The screen of the call comes up, and Steven immediately presses an icon which function Pearl doesn’t understand until the deep rings echo in the whole room.
Pearl would never admit out loud how much anxiety each resounding ring provokes her, and then finally they stop and a voice that she could even call familiar picks up.
«Hello?»
Pearl had an answer ready. She had. More than just one, actually, because Garnet, Amethyst and Steven each suggested a couple. But the very moment she hears the girl’s voice, all those answers fly away from Pearl’s mind and she is left with one final options.
«Hi I am Pearl from the concert you gave me your number I just bought a phone so that I could call you so hi!»
Garnet, Amethyst and Steven all fall down on the couch, holding back a loud sigh only because they’re on speakerphone. Pearl blushes and wonders if she has to say something to try and save what she is already ruining, but the girl laughs. Her warm voice fills the room.
«So, you called. I’m glad. I was starting to worry you had been caught by the cops».
Her voice gives Pearl a sudden burst of confidence and adrenaline - that has been great - and when she answers it's to laugh too, as almost as if she was next to her.